The present invention relates in general to the construction of fuzes for explosive devices, and in particular to a new and useful point detonation backup mechanism for a fuze to avoid the hazards of an armed yet undetonated explosive device which has not detonated because of the failure of its fuze.
A fuze is known, in particular a fuze designated the M223 fuze, which is used to detonate various explosive devices including grenades, explosive artillery projectiles, mortar, and rockets. Due in particular to the number of M223 fuzes utilized, the rate of occurrence for armed hazardous duds is quite high. Over 100 million such fuzes per year are projected. Even with a failure rate of only 0.1%, this translates into a yearly potential of 100,000 armed hazardous duds. This poses a significant danger to explosive ordnance personnel and friendly troops during a conflict and to civilians during or after the conflict.